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A disgruntled family in Long An Tuesday allegedly threw acid at several police officers who had come to appropriate their land for a public project.

Police in the southern province have arrested nine members of the family, including two women, after 18 officers were burned. One of the officers had to seek treatment at Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

The officers were trying to take possession of the land for an embankment project.

Two of them were also scratched in their arms allegedly by people attacking them with scissors.

The arrestees could face charges of fighting officials on duty, an official said, adding that they had also tried to explode a welding gas tank.

The official said the agriculture ministry had approved the project several years ago, but locals refused to give up their lands.

A similar effort last year had ended in failure due to resistance.

The compensation rates offered are not known.

In Vietnam, all land is owned by the state and people only get the right to use land.

The law allows the government to revoke these rights at any time, usually by paying compensation.

But it often triggers conflicts and sometimes even violence.

A gun battle by a family in the northern city of Hai Phong in January 2012 among other incidents prompted the government to issue a resolution earlier this month that constrains local authorities from taking over land from farmers.

It enjoins authorities to ensure farmers’ legitimate interests are protected if their land is taken over for national security and other public purposes.